Resurrection of my CQ20V

[Bowie69]

Still not looked at it(!)

Maybe I will get some time tomorrow....

BUT... I wanted to just pop in and say what a difference going back to 205/60/15 tyres makes to the ride, SO much better, and of course looks better too

Any one want some 17x7 4x108 Boleros or 15x7 ten spokes? Got a set of each for sale

[John.]

That's interesting, I'm about to fit Boleros to my CQ. Standard springs on yours?

[Bowie69]

Yup, standard springs, 'road-spec' (purple) polybushes for arms and subframes, rear diff mount.

Its the crashing over minor bumps that has changed, as you might imagine. I think the reason for change is three-fold: Sidewall height increase (obviously), the speedlines are a fair bit lighter meaning they react quicker to a bump and better to a smaller bump, allowing the suspension to do its job, and lastly, the old tyres (BCT cheapies 225/45/17) are harder than a 9-inch nail, despite being only 12 months old.

[John.]

My only difference will be new Goodyear tyres...215/45's

[Bowie69]

Fingers crossed then!

It may be because I am old of course

[Bowie69]

Sooo, here's the pics of it, a little cleaner this time





Today, I messed around with the stereo, trying to get it to autodim with headlights on, only to find that for some reason Sony decided that was a bad option to allow for people to have, so dimmed it down manually!

Also contact-cleaned the heater fan switch, not it switches more reliably between speeds, and screwed the throttle pedal in place!

Then, when refitting the trim around the drivers seat tilt mechanism, I look through the hole, and realise the seat back has fractured in two places(!) So..... I shall be stripping that back at some point to weld it up, hopefully not to omuch of a pig of a job.

Had no time to do the clutch/brake fluid, but will hopefully get to it this week with the lovely weather we have

John., how are the Boleros?

[Bowie69]

....and so this evening some norbert decided to stop at the narrowest point on a country lane by me, and exposed my left front to a large pothole, which took the tyre out, have not checked the rim yet, but if it is damaged it is on th einside, but still GRRR.

Anyone want a tyre, one month old, little miles, light damage?

[Bowie69]

And today, while changing the brake fluid, and crawling under the car for a bolt-tightness check, I notice brake fluid coming out the bell housing, yep, I guess I found the reason my pedal went odd the other week! New one on order, and a set of front brake pads, as mine seem to have disappeared a lot recently....

Some really horrible fluid came out the RH rear caliper, very glad I did it, but wasn't brave enough to give the clutch the punishment required to bleed it... and as it is coming out anyways it matters not at the moment

[Bowie69]

Changed out the front pads this afternoon, one very worn pad on the passenger side, the pad was stuck in the carrier, and also the slide pin was jammed fast on the bottom -I thought I had cleaned, greased and refitted these last year so was a surprise, but all cleaned up and refitted, carrier de-rusted a little and new pads (Pagid) checked for clearance and all bolted back up, never had a pedal as good as this now, stops very well!

Clutch slave arrived today, eezibleed tomorrow or thursday, will fit it up then or possible on the weekend.

[Bowie69]

Whoever says changing a clutch slave on a RHD B3 coupe with Procon-Ten is easy, is LYING.

Had to remove the Procon-Ten bracket, trim panel that goes round the driveshaft/inner wing, N/S bottom ball joint and drive shaft to get access to the bolt, which was REALLY tight, managed to just get on it with 3 1/4" extensions, 2 3/8", a 38" to 1/4" adapter and a 3/8" ratchet, and it let go with a bang, eventually.

Then I spent the best part of an hour and a half getting the new one back in and the bolt done up..... grrr....

One thing, if you do remove the driveshaft from the gearbox, don't forget how staining the moly grease is, I was wearing a black velvet glove by the time I had finished, and even after washing about 10 times now it is still a bit grey. Put a plastic bag over the end of the driveshaft Couldn't take it right out as already had vehicle jacked up so no way to undo the outer bolt.

I worked from the passenger wheel well, as this gave best access, in fact the multitude of extension I mentioned above came out of the hole where the driveshaft exits the inner wing, it was the only place I could get enough leverage on it from.

Tomorrow I will bleed it up and then put everything back together, ran out of light tonight despite starting at just gone 6.

[Bowie69]

Back together and bled immediately with Eezibleed

Clutch is softer/smoother now, probably helped by the fact the button on the end of the rod is in tact now(!) Previous one had obviously been split for a very, very long time.

[Bowie69]

Soooo....... water pump went the other day, spotted when the coolant level warning came on, and then realised the noisy PAS pump was indeed the water pump directly underneath it!

When you get in this deep, you know it is bad:



Still, after much work and cleaning and painting it looked like this:



You may be able to see in the first pic (and read elsewhere on the forum) that the oil pump had got mullered a few years back before I did my own timing belts, by the crank bolt coming loose (and leaving me stranded by the side of the road, TWICE), so I decided not to use the damaged crank belt pulley, and replaced it with one of the Chef's billet versions, fitted up VERY well, definitely recommend them, and not much more than a genuine replacement.

Pawel on here supplied me with the NOS genuine oil pump Perfect condition, except the seal which just given the age had gone rather hard, so replaced this with a new Elring item I had already ordered.

Those of you that have been there, will know this means taking the sump off, which in turn means dropping the front of the front subframe, and with polybushes this means there's no movement in the back bushes to allow you to push it out the way! Had to drop the whole thing, so next on the list is alignment.

Still, I should now have an oil and water leak free 7A (the old crank seal was pouring oil out!), new timing belt, a lovely clean sump, new water and oil pump, and fresh oil in the cleaned out pan.

Oh, and I made my own crank locking tool, piece of pipe I had kicking about, cut a slit in it until it fitted snugly into the pulley, cut a notch into it, and then welded a piece of angle iron to it, then cut a slot into that, to go round the very snugly round the snub, to avoid all the load being taken by a thin piece of steel. Ended up like this:



Only took about half an hour of faffing to get it made, that's about what I would have taken to find the right place to order one from!

Crank bolt was done up with 3/4" 4 foot breaker bar, with most of my weight on it, and 'extra strong' thread lock on the bolt. Undoing was fun, couldn't get it to crack with just force, ended up bouncing it to get it to move, with the bar at about waist height.

Quite a big job, if I had all the parts and wasn't needing to do the oil pump it is easily possible in a day, and if I had ever pulled the front off my car before, I would've been much quick at that as well.

Total cost.... around £450 inc fluids and the breaker bar/socket, pretty ouch, but at least it is done...

Anyways, all buttoned up, and got fresh oil/filter in it, so it's time to get driving it again

[Bowie69]

Done about 30 miles, found I must have tightened the PAS belt a bit much (must have done it right after the crank bolts I guess!), pump is groaning and seeping fluid from the front, bonus is with everything so clean I can see it (!) Loosen it off tomorrow and it will be fine, its always leaked a bit, so ran the belt a bit looser to reduce the flow, need to get a replacement I guess, just not this month!

[Error404]

Good work, very satisfying to carry out this kind of job yourself for the first time

[newsh]

Nice clean job on the front of the engine mate. I makes all the difference doesn't it. Watch out for dodgy reconned PS pumps though, most of them are rubbish and leak soon after fitting..